That is, the whole world is only imagined and suppositional
[i((tibaarii]. One ought not to consider his existence
to be 'existence'. He has constructed the sphere of the world as a link in
the net of thought. (152)

He says, oh Asad, this whole world is only imaginary, and
has a suppositional existence. Don't by any means consider your presence here
to be your 'existence'. This whole world has no more reality than a link in
the net of thought. (209)

Oh Asad, don't consider the world to be present. There's
nothing in the world. Its existence is hypothetical and suppositional. As
many spheres as might be considered to exist, they are nothing but imagination....
The Sufis too have this view: that in the world there's only the Lord, and
nothing else at all. (278)

FWP:

What does it mean to 'come into', to be taken in by, to be
lured into or suckered into, the trick/deceit of existence [hastii
kaa fareb]? Well, that depends on what the trick 'of' existence is. It
can mean at least three things: 1) the trick that itself is existence; 2)
the trick that is played by existence on somebody; 3) the trick that somehow
belongs or pertains to existence. In short, all the possibilities Ghalib so
often smuggles in with the i.zaafat , he here provides
with kaa . (In {196,4},
he uses fareb-e hastii itself.) For more on the complexities
of fareb , see {71,3}.

Uncertain among those three possibilities, we wait (under
mushairah performance
conditions) for the second line, expecting clarification. And what do we get?
More ambiguity and multivalence, of course. (Are we really surprised?) This is an 'A,B' verse, in which it's unclear how the two lines are to be connected; and because of the level of abstraction, the range of possible connections is particularly wide.

For
it's impossible to tell what kind of entity 'thought' might be. Is it an autonomous
agent named 'Thought', like a personification? Is it something in the mind
of God, that shapes us willy-nilly? Is it something in our own minds, that
we can play with as we like? Is it something in our own minds that compels
us, and over which we have no power?

Putting it all together, here are just a few of the possible
readings:

=Don't foolishly think that you 'exist'
=Don't naively play the games that 'existence' wants you to play
=Even though you're forced to 'exist', don't be blind to the real truth

To be paired at will with:

=The whole world is imaginary/imagined
='Thought' is a notorious trickster
=Use your 'thought' to perceive the tricks of 'existence'
=Your own 'thought' is what ensnares and deceives you

The imagery of being ensnared 'in' a trick/deceit [fareb
me;N aanaa] works suggestively with the 'net' in the second line-- the
kind of net in which birds are commonly trapped. (See for example {167,2}.)
What kind of a net would it be, in which the whole world would constitute
only one link? Vast and awesome, no doubt, but would it also encompass other
worlds, other universes (and might they be accessible to us somehow, within
the net)? Could we somehow avoid it (the way clever birds don't fly into a net)?
Could we escape from it (the way a trapped bird might find a small hole in
the net)? To imagine that the net has been placed by God is relatively comforting;
what if we ourselves have created the net? Or, most frighteningly, what if
there's no one at all behind the net?